German/Level I/Wie heißt du?

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Germans usually shake hands when they are introduced or introduce themselves.

Lesson I.1: Wie heißt du? (1. Teil)

This lesson deals with basic conversation topics such as saying hello and goodbye and asking people how they are feeling. This lesson features audio recordings by native speakers to help you with the pronunciation.

Read and listen to the following dialogue between two students: Franz and Greta. You don't have to understand anything! You should rather try to find out how each word is pronounced.

Dialogue: What's your name? (1st Part) — Wie heißt du? (1. Teil)

Franz

Hallo, ich bin Franz. Wie heißt du?

Greta

Hallo, Franz. Ich heiße Greta. Wie geht's?

Franz

Es geht mir gut. Kennst du den Lehrer?

Greta

Ja, er heißt Herr Weiß.

Franz

Oh, danke, Greta. Bis dann!

Greta

Wiedersehen!

Problems: Listen carefully!

The German pronunciation of many letters is similar to the English pronunciation, but there are also many differences. Try to answer the following question by listening carefully. Write your answers on a piece of paper or in a text file before you check them.

How is the "a" in "Hallo", "Franz", "Greta", "ja", "danke", and "dann" pronounced?

How is the "i" in "ich" and "bis" pronounced?

How is the "ch" in "ich" pronounced?

How is the "z" in "Franz" pronounced?

How is the "w" in "wie", "Weiß" and "wiedersehen" pronounced?

How is the "ie" in "wie" and "Wiedersehen" pronounced?

How is the "ei" in "heißt", "heiße" and "Weiß" pronounced?

How is the "ß" in "heißt", "heiße" and "Weiß" pronounced?

How is the "e" in "es", "kennst", "er" and "Herr" pronounced?

How is the first "e" in "gehen", "Greta", and "geht" pronounced?

Answers

Similar to the "a" in "hard".

Similar to the "i" in "hit".

Similar to, but not entirely like, the "ch" in the Scottish word "Loch". The sound does not exist in English.

"z" is pronounced like "ts".

Similar to the "v" in "vat".

Similar to the "ee" in "meet".

"ei" is pronounced like "ai" in German or like the "i" in the English word "time".

"ß" is pronounced like "s".

Similar to "e" in "pet".

This is a long German "e"; the sound doesn't exist in English. It is between the "i" in "hit" and the "e" in "pet".

Now try to understand the dialogue with the help of the following list of vocabulary. (A complete translation is given in the answers to the next problems.)

Vocabulary: What's your name? (1st Part) — Wie heißt du? (1. Teil)

English

German

Hello!

Hallo!

I

ich

I am...

Ich bin ...

how

wie

you

du

Your name is...

Du heißt ...

What is your name?

Wie heißt du?

My name is...

Ich heiße ...

it

es

it goes

es geht

How is it going?

Wie geht's? (Longer: Wie geht es?)

me

mir

good

gut

I'm good.

Es geht mir gut. (Shorter: Mir geht's gut. Even shorter: Gut.)

you know

du kennst

Do you know...?

Kennst du ...?

teacher

Lehrer

yes

ja

he

er

His name is...

Er heißt ...

Mr.

Herr

oh

oh

thanks

danke

until

bis

then

dann

See you!

Bis dann!

on

auf

again

wieder

(to) see

sehen

Goodbye!

(Auf) Wiedersehen!

Problems: Working with the dialogue

Translate the dialogue to English with the help of the list of vocabulary. Write your translation on a piece of paper before you check it.

Listen to the recording without reading and try to understand the meaning of the words. If you cannot remember some words, look them up and start again.

Read the dialogue aloud. Compare your pronunciation with the pronunciation of the recording.

Listen to the recording without reading and write down the dialogue in German. Pause the playback after each sentence to write down what you have heard. Repeat this exercise until you know the spelling of the German words.

There are many ways of saying hello and goodbye in German; some of them are:

Vocabulary: Greetings — Grüße

English

German

Hello!

Hallo!*

Servus! (used in southern Germany and eastern Austria, informal)

Moin! (used in northern Germany)

Good morning!

Moin Moin! (used in northern Germany)

Guten Morgen!*

Morgen! (shorter)

Good day!

Guten Tag!*

Tag! (used in Germany, shorter)

Good evening!

Guten Abend!*

Hello!

Grüß Gott! (used in southern Germany, Austria and South Tyrol)

Goodbye!

Auf Wiedersehen!*

Wiedersehen! (shorter)

Bye!

Tschüss!*

Tschau! (also spelled "ciao" as in Italian)

Servus! (used in southern Germany and eastern Austria, informal)

See you later!

Bis später!*

See you!

Bis dann!*

Bis bald!*

See you soon!

Bis gleich!

Good night!

Gute Nacht!*

*You will need to know each expression with an asterisk (*) after it. The others, of course, would be useful to know if you are traveling to regions where they are used. (As you can see, the different German-speaking regions often have their own ways of saying hello and goodbye. However, you will not be required to know any of these less common phrases for any problems or tests.)

The more formal phrases are guten Morgen, guten Tag, and auf Wiedersehen. The less formal ones are tschüss, Tag, servus, and ciao. The others are somewhat neutral on the formal-informal scale.

In German, Herr and Frau are used instead of Mr. and Mrs. before a last name; e.g., Mr. Schwarz – Herr Schwarz.

Vocabulary: Mr. & Ms. — Herr und Frau

English

German

Mr.

Herr

Mrs.

Frau

Frau is used for married and unmarried women. Some people still use Miss – Fräulein in spoken German but it is no longer used in written German since it is considered an inappropriate discrimination of unmarried women.

Literally, der Herr means the gentleman and die Frau means the woman. If you use these words without a last name after them, you have to use an article before them; e.g., der Herr or die Frau. This is actually just like in English. For example:

The woman's name is Mrs. Weiß – Die Frau heißt Frau Weiß.

Note also that the German translation of the man is der Mann and the lady should be translated to die Dame. Thus, without last names you would rather use these pairs:

The test consists of three parts: pronunciation, vocabulary, and translation. As always, you should write down your answers before you check them. (Writing the German words is in fact a great way to practice the spelling of German words.) The vocabulary and translation problems are all from English to German because this is what you have to learn if you want to communicate in German. Once you are able to translate an English word to the corresponding German word, it won't be any problem to translate the German word back to English.

Problems: Pronunciation

How do you pronounce "Ich heiße ..."?

How do you pronounce "Franz"?

How do you pronounce "Wiedersehen"?

Answers

"i" as in "hit", "ch" as in "Loch", "h" as in "hotel", "ei" as the "i" in "times", "ß" is pronounced just like a "s", last "e" as in "pet"

"f", "r", "n" similar to the English pronunciation of these letters, "a" as in "hard", "z" like "ts".

"w" as the "v" in "vat", "ie" as the "ee" in "meet", "eh" is the long German "e" (between "i" in "hit" and a "e" in "pet"), the other letters are pronounced similarly in English.